
FY23 Budget Outcomes: DOE Office of Science
Funding for the Department of Energy Office of Science rose 8% to $8.10 billion for fiscal year 2023, about double the Biden administration’s requested 4% increase. The office also received a one-time $1.55 billion appropriation
Broadly, the Biden administration has prioritized funding for DOE’s clean energy R&D programs, which has led some lawmakers, including Democrats, to publicly complain
Congress provided detailed direction for the Office of Science in an explanatory statement

Cross-cutting initiatives
The Office of Science is dedicating increasingly large portions of its budget to R&D initiatives that draw funding from across the office’s programs and other parts of DOE. Congress set the following minimum funding levels for the office’s contributions to these initiatives for this fiscal year:
Quantum information science. $245 million, remaining even
Artificial intelligence. $135 million, up from $120 million
Energy storage. $83 million, up from $24 million
Industrial decarbonization. $65 million, up from $20 million
Removal of atmospheric carbon. $50 million, up from $35 million
Critical minerals. $25 million, up from $17 million
Hydrogen fuel. $17 million, an allocation not previously specified
Emissions-reducing fuels. $10 million, an allocation not previously specified
Energy Earthshot Centers. The office is directed to allocate up to $100 million to its new Energy Earthshot Research Centers program in the current fiscal year, about half DOE’s request. DOE has just opened a competition
Support for MSIs. The office is directed to allocate at least $60 million to engaging HBCUs and other MSIs in research capacity-building and workforce-development efforts, including through the new RENEW (Reaching a New Energy Sciences Workforce) and FAIR (Funding for Accelerated, Inclusive Research) programs. The administration requested $60 million for RENEW and about $36 million for FAIR.
EPSCoR. Funding is increasing from $25 million to at least the requested level of $35 million for DOE’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, which supports projects in states and territories that have generally received a disproportionately small share of federal research funding. DOE has previously funded EPSCoR from the Basic Energy Sciences program’s budget, but the appropriation directs that it “be implemented and funded across all the [office’s] science programs.” The CHIPS and Science Act also requires the office
Basic Energy Sciences

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm speaking at Argonne National Lab in July. Her visit incorporated a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the completion of a new experiment hall that will take advantage of the soon-to-be upgraded capabilities of the lab’s Advanced Photon Source. (Image credit – ANL)
The budget for the BES program rose 10% to $2.53 billion. With that appropriation and the IRA money, the program is making significant progress on funding projects in its sprawling construction portfolio. Amounts listed below include funding from both sources.
Advanced Photon Source. The $14 million appropriated for an upgrade project at Argonne National Lab’s APS user facility was the last installment in its $815 million funding profile. APS is scheduled to begin a one-year “dark period” on April 17 to accommodate the upgrade’s installation.
Advanced Light Source. Receiving $232 million, an upgrade project at Berkeley Lab’s ALS user facility was a major beneficiary of the past year’s funding developments and is now less than $60 million from the end of its $590 million profile. DOE gave the project the go-ahead
Linac Coherent Light Source II. SLAC’s LCLS-II X-ray free electron laser facility is expected
Spallation Neutron Source. A beam upgrade at Oak Ridge National Lab’s SNS user facility received $17 million, bringing the project nearly to the end of its $272 million profile. A separate project to build a second target station at SNS is ramping up slowly, receiving $80 million. That is a large step up from its $32 million budget for fiscal year 2022, but with a total expected cost of more than $2 billion, the effort is still near the beginning of its funding profile. The new station is poised to receive more funding as the needs of other projects are met, and the new lead appropriator for DOE in the house, Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN), is likely to be a strong advocate for it as he is the representative for Oak Ridge’s district.
High Flux Isotope Reactor. A project to replace the pressure vessel
National Synchrotron Light Source II. After receiving $44 million, a project to build three new beamlines at Brookhaven National Lab’s NSLS-II user facility now only requires about $20 million more to complete its $87 million funding profile. DOE is beginning to plan for the next phase of the facility’s beamline buildout.
NSRC recapitalization. After receiving $45 million, an initiative to modernize equipment at the five Nanoscale Science Research Centers is close to covering its $74 million total cost.
User facility operations. While the administration proposed trimming budgets for scientific user facility operations, Congress instead raised the minimum amounts DOE should allocate:
Light sources. $566 million, up from $538 million
Neutron sources. $311 million, up from $294 million
NSRCs. $149 million, up from $142 million
Nuclear Physics
The NP program budget went up 11% to $805 million, well surpassing the administration’s request for a 2% increase.
Electron-Ion Collider. The EIC project received $138 million through the IRA as well as $70 million through its annual appropriation, far exceeding the $30 million requested. Brookhaven National Lab, which is leading the project, had feared
FRIB. The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University began science operations
MOLLER. An experiment at Jefferson Lab to measure a minute asymmetry in polarized electron-electron scattering reactions is now reaching the end of its roughly $50 million funding profile.
High Energy Physics
Funding for the HEP program rose 8% to $1.17 billion, which was double the requested increase.
LBNF/DUNE and PIP-II. The program’s flagship neutrino physics project received an appropriation of $176 million and an associated accelerator upgrade at Fermilab received $120 million, matching the requested amounts. The projects also respectively received $125 million and $10 million through the IRA. Schedule estimates for LBNF/DUNE appear to have stabilized following a period of tumult, with detector installation slated to begin in 2024 and the start of full science operations targeted for 2031. LBNF/DUNE’s total cost to DOE is now expected to exceed $3 billion, with one upper-bound estimate suggesting $3.8 billion is possible, while PIP-II is projected to cost DOE almost $1 billion. Those estimates do not include the more than $1 billion the two projects have attracted in international and other non-DOE contributions.
LHC upgrades. Congress did not specify funding levels for U.S. contributions to detector and accelerator upgrades at the Large Hadron Collider in Europe. However, $106 million provided through the IRA will bring the projects close to the end of their funding profiles. Estimates for the combined total cost of the projects are in flux, but the price tag for DOE is broadly in the half-billion-dollar range. The National Science Foundation is also contributing to the detector upgrades.
CMB-S4. The IRA provided $13 million for the Cosmic Microwave Background Stage 4 experiment and Congress permitted DOE to spend up to an additional $10 million on it through base appropriations this year. The project remains in its early stages and is expected to also receive significant funding from NSF.
Fusion Energy Sciences
The FES program budget increased 7% to $763 million, significantly outstripping the administration’s request for a 1% increase. Interest in fusion has recently been growing and the CHIPS and Science Act called for the program’s budget to be immediately boosted to over $1 billion. Last year, the White House also announced it would pursue a “bold decadal vision” for fusion energy and DOE officials have hinted the program will be prioritized in the administration’s next budget request.
ITER. Funding for the U.S. contribution to the France-based ITER fusion project remained steady at $242 million, with no less than $70 million reserved for cash contributions. The IRA also provided an extra $256 million for ITER, bringing the U.S. up to date on deferred funding obligations. However, the project is currently facing serious disruptions, including extensive flaws in critical components that will either need to be repaired or replaced
Private fusion ventures. DOE is directed to spend at least $25 million on its new “milestone-based” program
MEC petawatt laser. A project to upgrade the Matter in Extreme Conditions end station at SLAC received an $11 million appropriation and $10 million through the IRA, rescuing its budget from a proposed reduction to $1 million. The project has been held up by ongoing uncertainty surrounding its scope.
Other programs

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thomas Zacharia standing next to the lab’s Frontier computer in August 2022, months after it became the world’s first computer to be independently verified as achieving exascale processing speeds. Zacharia retired as director at the end of 2022 after a 35-year career at the lab. (Image credit – ORNL)
Advanced Scientific Computing Research. Funding for the ASCR program rose 3% to $1.07 billion, in line with the requested amount. The program is currently ramping down its initiative to build exascale computers, with Oak Ridge National Lab’s Frontier machine now operating
Biological and Environmental Research. The budget for the BER program increased 11% to $909 million, which is slightly more than requested. The Environmental and Molecular Sciences Laboratory at Pacific Northwest National Lab is allocated at least $65 million, or 50% more than its fiscal year 2021 budget. Congress allocated up to $20 million to low-dose radiation research after allocating no less than $8 million last year. Having discontinued a previous low-dose radiation research effort, DOE has been reluctant
Isotope R&D and Production. While the base budget for the isotope program grew 33% to $109 million, it also received $158 million in IRA funds, supporting both short-term and long-term projects to increase domestic isotope production. Interest in bolstering domestic production has been spurred
Accelerator R&D and Production. Funding for the office’s new accelerator technology program increased 52% to about $27 million, matching the request. The office split the program off from the High Energy Physics program in 2020 to address accelerator R&D, workforce, and supply-chain issues relevant across several of the office’s science programs.